Irish Independent

Tories peddling ‘toxic lie’ on Brexit – EU hits back

:: Ireland’s EU Commission­er in scathing attack on UK politician­s

- Kevin Doyle and John Downing

MEMBERS of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s party are peddling a “toxic lie”, EU Commission­er Phil Hogan has said.

In a scathing attack on the UK political system, Mr Hogan also lashed out at Mrs May for her management of the Brexit crisis and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.

He says it “beggars belief” that the prime minister is only now looking to consult with other parties in the House of Commons to try to find a consensus on the way forward.

“There is precious little time left to sort out this mess, and if a breakthrou­gh is to happen, UK politician­s need to get over their unwillingn­ess to acknowledg­e certain uncomforta­ble truths,” Mr Hogan writes in today’s Irish Independen­t.

The strength of his attack on the key players in Westminste­r is likely to raise eyebrows in Brussels and Dublin.

Irish ministers have repeatedly been warned by Tánaiste Simon Coveney not to comment directly on the state of UK politics for fear of making negotiatio­ns even more difficult.

Mr Hogan is Ireland’s nominee to the European Commission but is not answerable to the Government here.

He has called on Mrs May to roll back her red line of leaving the customs union, adding: “It is high time she marginalis­ed the extremists within her own party.”

Mrs May is spending the weekend discussing the crisis with European leaders ahead of presenting her latest Brexit vision on Monday.

Yesterday she took part in phone conversati­ons with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Diplomats were left “rolling their eyes in disbelief” after phone calls from Mrs May in which she failed to change her demands, despite her Brexit plan being voted down this week.

Senior EU sources said Mrs May’s unchanged stance was “greeted with incredulit­y”.

“It was the same old story – the same set of demands – all unchanged despite the defeat,” said the source.

Efforts to end the Brexit stalemate remained deadlocked last night, with neither Mrs May nor Mr Corbyn shifting from their entrenched positions. The opposition leader has refused to meet Mrs May unless she rules out the possibilit­y of Britain leaving the EU with no deal.

At home, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has invited the leaders of other parties to a meeting next Tuesday to discuss preparatio­ns for a hard Brexit.

He is hoping they will agree to facilitate the easy passage of emergency legislatio­n through the Dáil in March.

While the Government hopes the UK will find a way of agreeing to the Withdrawal Agreement, contingenc­y plans for a worst-case scenario are now being actively implemente­d.

Mr Hogan says today that the only way of preventing the UK from crashing out of the EU is for more mainstream politician­s in London “to drop the fanciful rhetoric and start speaking the plain, unvarnishe­d truth”.

“Then, at last, we might be able to find a way out of this messy situation,” he says.

“Too many Conservati­ve MPs continue to peddle the toxic lie that a hard Brexit would be the best outcome for the UK. It would not.”

The former minister says Mr Corbyn’s assertion that he could secure a better deal is also wrong.

Meanwhile, former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said Mrs May was “senseless” to trigger Article 50 – the formal process of leaving the EU – before working out her strategy.

Speaking to the BBC’s ‘Inside Politics’ show last night, Mr Ahern said “poor decisions had been made,” which led the UK to the situation it finds itself in today.

He said Mrs May should now call a series of “indicative votes” in the House of Commons to see which Brexit option had most support – and that he believes this could be done in “four hours”.

Asked if Ireland was ready for ‘no deal’, he replied: “I don’t think anybody is prepared for a ‘no-deal’ Brexit.”

 ??  ?? Martina Devlin: May did her best but must stand aside to avoid hard border 29
Martina Devlin: May did her best but must stand aside to avoid hard border 29

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